Rejected?

Ok, my new Wordpress theme got rejected and I think most of the statements made here are a matter of personal opinion

http://wp.contempographicdesign.com/wp_worldtraveler

Thank you for taking the time to submit your work. Unfortunately this item doesn’t meet the high approval standards we have for the ThemeForest.

1. There is an “X” on every images in IE6 .

2. Seriously, the grunge effect doesn’t look good here. It was like the whole page has been cover by something. maybe you need to consider using white color? Or other colors.

3. This type of theme remind my those free journal free themes out there. No offend here, I just try to say that maybe user will think like this too.

4. The comment box need a minimum height, else, short comment will have some problem.

1. I’ve tested and this isn’t happening
2. Matter of personal opinion, its not even grunge its watercolor brushes besides this is a nature/natural inspired theme for travel
3. Slightly offended by this comment, do you guys think it looks like a free theme?
4. Fixed

I would like to know what you guys think, the idea of the theme is to be used as a custom travel blog. Before submitting I ran the design by 5+ people and they all loved it, so I thought I was on the right track but maybe not.

My Questions to you guys:

• Does it need more features? I’ve included 3 custom widgets (flickr, about & current location), Custom Write Post Panel, Auto Image resizing, etc…
• Do you agree with the reviewer on the “Grunge”?

Any comments or help is appreciated.

i like “grunge” brush.

Hey contemponic,

1. I took a quick peek in IE6 and the red x shows up on top of the logo. It just means the IE6 transparency fix you used can’t find the transparent graphic.

2. The grunge doesn’t work well with this theme. I don’t think the color of the rest of the whole page works well.

3. No offense here but yes, this could be viewed as the equivalent of free themes available around the web. Look at smashing magazine for instance, there are tons of free themes that meet higher design criteria than this theme. We aren’t trying to be rude, just giving an honest evaluation.

I think this template needs several improvements before it would meet our criteria for approval. The typography, colors, element separation, etc. It’s definitely a great start though so I hope this doesn’t discourage you. I hope this helps.

1. Gotcha, I’ll take a look

2. I really am doubting this, is this because it doesn’t have a javascript slider or what? Its supposed to be a simple theme, and in regards to the typography, and element seperation the entire layout is based upon a grid using the rule of thirds, everything is legible and properly spaced with leading, margin and padding so again I disagree. The color scheme is intentional as its based off a nature theme with different shades of green, brown and tan.

I think we need some more variety of themes on this site, rather than just portfolio and community themes.

I guess if more people agree with you guys then I’ll have to make some changes or just call this one a loss. But from everyone else that I’ve shown this to Web Professionals and Regular People they’ve all liked it and had nothing but positive remarks.

Trust me I have a A.A.S. in graphic design and a B.A.S. in multimedia design and multiple certifications, and years knowledge under my belt…I know all about theory and best practices.

I’m sorry but I completely disagree with you on 1-3

The Heading color is the same link color used throughout the site, in this instance and many others you want contrasting colors in your header compared to your body copy, and again with the date being a lighter color as to not draw attention away from the more important elements in this case the Header “what the post is about”. We can go back and forth on this all day.

4) This is a simple fix and can see you’re point, I can add a horizontal separator between each post block.

5) This is insanely picky its maybe off by one pixel, I know you guys don’t go that far into detail on your approvals give me a break.

Jarel, I’m sorry but you need to practice what you preach.

I’m just gonna call this template a loss and move on…

I think grunge works for outdoorsmen. They are people who sleep in tents and dirt, i am sure they wouldn’t mind a little grunge. I think this is one of your best designs to date. If they don’t want it I am sure there are plenty of other people or other sites you can sell it on.

I think this is one of your best designs to date

thanks!

Any other authors or buyers, please feel free to post. I’d really like to get some more outside feedback on this

I think that you have a geat and unique template.

Hey Contempo – here are my points – for what it’s worth:

It doesn’t look like a free template at all I quite like the color scheme (perfect for the market) I do not find headers / links etc the wrong colors

I understand it isn’t as “frilly” as some designs – but as you said it’s meant to look this way – you can tell.

Nothing wrong with the grunge at the top – matches the bottom perfectly.

I don’t know too much about wordpress (something I wish to fix in the near future), but I do not see why this should be rejected now you fixed the actual issues.

If anything – give it away for free with one of your existing products to increase sales on that item – never strike it off as a loss

Finally I just skimmed through the wordpress templates and I “personally” see ones currently for sale that do not match the quality of this template – I do see others much nicer also – but that doesn’t necessarily mean this should be rejected.

Like I said, I understand your frustration, heaven knows I’ve been there – but if the powers that be just don’t like your design, there’s nothing more to fix…. and I agree this surely seems like a preference on aesthetics only now the issues are fixed – have you re-uploaded since you fixed the issues?